Saturday, July 4, 2009

Everywhere you look on the Internet now you'll see a way of getting six pack abs. Some of the methods work, and unfortunately some of them are a complete waste of money.

Diet pill manufacturers and ab-machine manufacturers are making millions of dollars every month selling stuff that people desperate for that wonder product will purchase at any cost. Weight loss and fat burning supplements will make your pocket thinner than your body, and these cost a lot more per month than a lifetime of help from an expert.

This hub should give you an understanding into what you can do to get six pack abs without the need of any wonder pills or expensive ab-machines. The most important part of getting a six pack stomach is speeding up your metabolism. Until you do that you'll always have that layer of fat covering your abs.

You can get a six-pack stomach in 3 months just if you eat a healthy diet and exercise correctly. It really is that easy.

More information from a six pack guru

Turbulence Trainingis a weight loss/six pack training program from Craig Ballantyne. In 12 weeks you can have results with just 3 intense workouts a week of 45 minutes.

This is perfect for anyone who doesn't want to waste time in the gym doing long boring cardio that lowers your metabolic rate.

What you eat is important

What you put into your body is the most important part of any fat burning program. You can't eat what you want and then expect the fat to start disappearing from your stomach.

A healthy diet that is low in sugar will keep your body in a fat burning state. Eating your meals at the right time of day will increase yoru metabolism so your body continues to burn fat instead of storing it.

Protein

Proteinis the building blocks of your muscular structure. This is important when it comes to burning fat as your muscles are more important than you might think.

Eating moreproteinalso gives you a fuller feeling after you have eaten a meal.Proteinalso burns more calories while it's being digested than carbohydrates will.

Fat

Don't be afraid of eating fat when you're trying to burn it from your body. You're not carrying extra fat now because you've eaten too much of it. You're carrying extra fat because your metabolism isn't as fast as it could be, and your insulin levels are too high.

Eating good healthy fats controls your insulin levels, and this prevents your body storing the calories you eat as fat.

Low fat diets are not healthy, you only need to eat a low fat diet if your doctor has advised you to.

Carbohydrates

Some people who are trying to burn fat will start one of those fad, low carb diets that have been given a lot of exposure over the last few years. These diets will work wonders in the short term when you're trying to lose weight, but most of the weight loss is water weight and your muscles getting smaller.

Carbohydrates are fuel for your muscles and carbs also help your muscles recover faster after exercise. If you eat a low carb diet you won't have the energy to exercise, and you need to exercise to burn fat for a six pack stomach.

Low carb diets also cause depression as carbs are a good mood food. You won't feel very good if you have no energy either which adds to the depression.

5 to 6 meals a day

Toburn fatfrom your body you need to eat 5 to 6 meals a day. This might sound a lot more than you're eating now, but the meals will be smaller.

Eating more often speeds up your metabolism, and prevents your body from storing calories as fat. If you only eat three meals a day the time between your meals will be too long. This causes your body to go into starvation mode, and when it does this it starts storing fat.

Most people that are overweight don't sit around eating all day. They're probably yo-yo dieters who aren't eating enough, or they only eat one big meal a day late at night. Your body learns that it is only getting food so many times of the day so it will store the calories as fat as a natural survival instinct.

Your body will also use your muscles as energy between your meals as these burn the most calories, and your body will want to burn less calories because of the lack of meals in your day. So it does this by naturally making your muscles smaller so your metabolic rate slows down.

Your body learns to adjust to the amount of calories you're eating so it doesn't mater if you're eating 2000 a day or 1000 a day, your body will make sure it only burns off what you're putting in to it.

Once your body gets to know that it will be receiving a meal every 2 to 3 hours during the day it will have no need to start storing fat, and it will burn off what you have eaten a lot quicker.

Exercise

After working out what you're going to eat every day your exercise program is next. For most people trying to get a set of six pack abs this means doing as many crunches a day or using their latest ab-machine for hours.

These are not the way you get a flat, washboard stomach.Burning fatfrom your stomach requires you to exercise your whole body, and not just your abs.

You can't burn fat from one part of your body. Fat burns at the same rate over your entire body, but your stomach is usually the last place that your muscles will start showing.

Building your muscles

Making your muscles bigger is the next important part of your six pack routine after you have a healthy diet worked out. Bigger muscles means a faster metabolic rate, and when you raise your metabolism your body burns fat even when you're resting.

You haven't got to start looking like a body builder for a faster metabolic rate, you just need to add some more muscle than your have now. A few extra pounds of muscle will help your body naturally burn more calories every day.

A few gymworkouts a week will be enough to increase your metabolic rate to the point where you're burning fat continuously.

Work on the large muscle groups

Because most people think that working the abs gives them a six pack they forget about the rest of their muscles, and this is a big mistake. The person that works on their back, chest and legs will see the muscles in their stomach a lot quicker than someone who works on their abs all the time.

Working on these larger muscles increases your metabolism at a faster rate. These muscles need burn more energy than other muscles so as they get bigger your whole body gets leaner.

Working on these muscle groups also help the rest of your muscles get bigger. Doing bicep curls doesn't make your arms bigger, getting the rest of your body bigger makes your arms grow.

Working on these larger muscles needs all of your other smaller muscles to work as well so they get a workout at the same time. This has a massive effect on the rate in which your body burns fat.

Exercises like squats and dead-lifts workout your whole body, and strengthen you from the core. Your abs are used in these exercises as well even if you don't feel it.

Doing your cardio

Your cardio will give your metabolism an extra boost, and this is the part of your program that burns extra fat. You don't want to do long boring cardio though, you need to do interval training which much more of a shock to your body, and will burn a lot more fat.

Interval training is hard exercise for about 30 seconds to a minute then you rest for a short period of time to get your breath back, then you go again. This raises your heart rate for a short period, then it drops again, and then you raise it again.

This type of cardio burns a lot more fat then a steady boring program that keeps your heart at a constant rate in the so called "fat burning zone". Interval training like this also prevents your muscles from being used as fuel when you do your cardio. Just look at sprinters compared to long distance runners. Sprinters are powerfully built because they do their training in short bursts, and long distance runners do long boring cardio that uses the whole body as fuel.

It's the same with sprint cyclists and athletes in the Tour De France. Sprint cyclists are powerfully built and long distance cyclists are small framed .

The less your muscles break down when you're doing your cardio the higher your metabolism will be. Your resting state metabolism is important to successfully burning fat and giving you your six pack abs.

What you must avoid

Things you must avoid are expensive supplements. These are appetite suppressants and fat burning supplements. The only thing they will do is make your pocket smaller.

Appetite suppressants ( the most popular being Hoodia ) will make you fatter in the long term. Because you'll be eating less your body will start losing muscle, and this will mean your metabolism will slow down.

When you start eating properly again after you stop taking the pills ( no one can stay on them forever, and it's not recommended you do ) your new slower metabolism will mean your body will store all the extra calories you're eating as fat.

The companies that supply these pills love this because they know when the person gets fatter again they will be straight back purchasing more pills.

Fat burning pills are a waste of money as well. There's no scientific proof that these burn fat, and in the end just cost you a fortune every month.

The Fat Burning Zone

There are a lot of myths about the fat burning zone. This is where your body will burn the most fat, and to surprise you the REAL fat burning zone is not when you're exercising.

How many times have you heard that you need to exercise for 20 minutes before your body gets in the fat burning zone. Your body is burning fat all the time, even while your reading this Hub.

There isn't anything that is different to the 1st, 2nd or third 20 minutes when you're doing an hour of long boring cardio. All your burning for the whole hour is calories. And at the end of the hour you'll be burning muscle. This will slow down your metabolic rate so you'll start burning less fat when you're sitting their watching TV.

The fat burning zone is the time when you've finished one workout and your body is repairing itself for the next. If you exercise properly then this zone will be 48 hours long, not for 40 minutes during a long cardio session.

Once the 48 hours is up your body is ready for the next intense workout. With the correct exercises and healthy eating plan you'll be burning 1 to 2 pounds of fat a week while your doing teh things you enjoy most. And you'll get plenty of time seeing as you only need to do 3 workouts a week that last 45 minutes.

You just need focus and dedication

To successfully get a set of six pack abs you just need to focus on the end result. Once you know what you want and what you need to do to get their your enthusiasm will take over.

All you need is a balanced diet where you eat the correct amount of food at the right time of the day, and a good exercise program. You won't need any expensive ab-machines or supplements.